Driver seems to have been fully aware of such a consequence, as he intimates, in his preface, that a story told to please 'a circle of Bedouins' would not suit an English audience; and that he need not apologize for not imitating the Arabian style, as such imitation must have ended in something "plus Arabe qu'en Arabie." Mr. Driver, however, has fallen rather into the opposite extreme. The picture which he has here placed before us has too much of the cold lines of less fiery climes than those scorching suns of Tehamas waste' to which he directs our eyes. Without attempting to detail the story of 'The Arabs,' we shall content ourselves with observing that the author has shaped his plot, as far as it is perceptible, after that of "The Bride of Abydos." There are several brilliant passages in the poem; and in justice to Mr. Driver we quote the following description of Morad's secret hour, when, as he well expresses it, the heart's beatings grow articulate; and memory rushes, like a night-wind, chill across the soul.'

'Tis night-within the palace-walls have ceast
The' exciting dance, the revel, and the feast.
All are at rest, save Morad, who had been,
Or seemed, the gayest of the festive scene.
In vain he flings him on his velvet couch;
'Tis turned to flint beneath his guilty touch:
His are those pillow-thorns for ever spread
By Conscience 'neath the pale delinquent's head:
His are those feelings of remorse which creep,
Like scorpions, round the heart, to poison sleep.
Darkness-wherein the soul sees clearest-cast
A dread distinctness o'er the blood-stained past;
Silence-which speaks the deepest in the ear
Of memory-re-echoed sounds of fear,
That shook the dews of slumber from his brow,
And left his soul aghast. What served it now,
The veil of grandeur? it was pierced by one
Heart-searching eye-an eye he could not shun.'

The manner in which Mr. Driver has touched upon the tender sympathy and deep solicitude of which the female heart is susceptible, in the moment of affliction, affords a fair specimen of his powers for this sort of composition.

When woman's heart, in pity, turns to save,
Few are the perils which she will not brave.
Zobeidé knew each avenue was barred;
Yet hoping, still, to move the sable guard,
She tried the magic of that gentle key,

Her lips' sweet smile; the way at once was free:

And,

And, like a Peri, wandering from her sphere
To whisper comfort in the dying ear,

She passed to where the wounded stranger lay,
In outward seeming, stilf as lifeless clay.

Alas! she knew not, then, that aught could move
Save Pity's voice-a stranger yet to love.
She saw that form reclining in the gloom,
Pale as a recent inmate of the tomb;

Yet did its moveless lip and bloomless cheek
Speak more than all that living love could speak.
Her heart had listened, and long mute she clung
Around his couch, and o'er his features hung,
As she would look him back to life, and give
Him sighs for breath, so he for her might live.
• When stretched upon his field the warrior lies,
Silent and cold, in death's unconscious sleep,
The glistening night-stars from the pitying skies
Look down, and seem in dewy light to weep;
So, whilst he slumbered, mildly beamed, above,
Her orbs of beauty, dewy-bright with love.
Yet not more modestly the star's pure ray
Withdraws before the unfolding beams of day,
Than did those eyes avoid his kindling gaze,
When he awoke and glanced upon her face.'

In the following lines a pleasing application is made of that very interesting and courteous tree the Mimosa.

• One frail memorial decks that islet-grave;
There is a tree whose light leaves o'er it wave
In pendent beauty:-if ye wander nigh,
Its boughs divide, and ye may then descry
A simple, rustic cross, which stands beneath,

Raised by some Christian hand, in token of their faith.'

Our readers will perceive that Mr. Driver is not among the most scrupulous with regard to the purity of his rhymes. We suggest to him that it is contrary to rule and good taste to unite the abbreviation of evening e'en, in poetical bonds with between, as well as to make towards a dissyllable. Good and smooth versification, on the whole, characterizes this poem: but it has neither strength nor originality enough to give it high distinction. Many images and ideas in it will be recognized, as having been borrowed from the master-bards, who have turned to the East for the lights which illumine their lays. If, however, the only purpose' in publishing his poem, as the author modestly declares, is to furnish an hour's amusement to those who may peruse it,' we should think he has a right to expect, at least, as much as is thus asked for his labours.

ART.

ART. XVI. Geographical Memoirs on New South Wales; by various Hands. Containing an Account of the SurveyorGeneral's late Expedition to two new Ports; the Discovery of Moreton Bay River, with the Adventures for seven Months there of two shipwrecked Men; a Route from Bathurst to Liverpool Plains; together with other Papers on the Aborigines, the Geology, the Botany, the Timber, the Astronomy, and the Meteorology of New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land. Edited by Barron Field, Esq., F. L.S., late Judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales and its Dependencies. 8vo. 18s. pp. 504. Murray. 1825.

THE

HE volume, to which this high-sounding title is prefixed, contains sixteen articles of unequal merit, all of which, with the exception of a few incidental remarks, and two pages on the timber of Van Diemen's Land, relate exclusively to New South Wales. The reader who may be induced by the title to search for information respecting our recent establishments in the former colony will, therefore, be greatly disappointed. We gladly hail, however, any accession to our knowlege of the latter portion of the globe, even though we cannot much approve the manner in which it is communicated. A country possessing all, or nearly all, the physical conditions requisite for the well-being of civilized society, must interest every one who looks to the future history of our species. Such a country is a great part of New South Wales, and the farther its interior has been explored, the more encouraging is the aspect it presents.

The greatest obstacle to its rapid settlement and cultivation is the want of large navigable rivers, communicating with the inland part of the country. Most of the rivers hitherto discovered on the eastern side of New Holland, empty themselves in large lagoons of water, and communicate with the sea by shoal-channels of from three to eight feet in depth, through which the stream of the tide usually runs out with great velocity. Indeed Captain King, who was employed by the Admiralty in 1818 to make a maritime survey of the coast, agrees with his predecessor, Captain Flinders, in repressing an expectation of finding any considerable navigable river to the north of Port Jackson. Captain Flinders, after a laborious survey of the coast, twenty-five years since, pronounced it to be "an ascertained fact, that no river of importance intersected the east coast of New Holland, between the 24th and 39th degree of south latitude." Captain King, in a memoir read on the 2d of October, 1822, before the Philosophical Society of Australia, says, "The coast-line has been traced with care by Captain

Flinders

Flinders and others as far as the tropic, and to the northward of this, we did not detect in the whole extent (a distance of eight hundred miles) any opening, rivulet, or creek, running twenty miles in an inland direction from the sea.".

This is the more remarkable, as Captain Cook, so long ago as the year 1770, observed that the sea "looked paler than usual in the bottom of Moreton Bay, and some of those who were on board with him were of opinion that it opened into a river." Such a suggestion, by so able and experienced a seaman, was sufficient to keep curiosity perpetually alive on the subject, and it was reserved for Mr. Oxley to prove that it was well founded. He had the good fortune to discover a river of very considerable magnitude opening into Moreton Bay, four hundred miles to the north of Port Jackson, and watering an extent of country unrivalled for its fertility and beauty.

In pursuance of instructions which Mr. Oxley received from the Governor, Sir Thomas Brisbane, directing him to make a survey of Port Curtis and Moreton Bay, with a view to the formation of a new convict-settlement, he sailed from Sydney in the Mermaid, on the 23d of October, 1823. Port Curtis is full of shoals, and difficult to enter. The coast of the mainland is covered with mangroves, and at low water the shore is rendered inaccessible by extensive mudflats. After a careful examination, only two insignificant rills and a rapid mountain-stream (to which the name of the Boyne was given) were discovered in that direction, and no site was observed capable of affording subsistence, or supplying the means of profitable labor, to a large establishment.

From Port Curtis Mr. Oxley returned southward, and entered Moreton Bay on the 29th of November. Considering the west shore of this bay as only cursorily examined, he determined to trace it round in the hope of finding some extensive inlet. The first day was lost in the examination of a large creek which was mistaken for a river. The mouth of the Brisbane was entered on the second day. We must give Mr. Oxley's account of this interesting discovery in his own words.

Early on the second day (December 2d), in pursuing our examination, we had the satisfaction to find the tide sweeping us up a considerable opening between the first islands and the mainland. The muddiness of the water, and the abundance of freshwater mollusca, convinced us we were entering a large river; and a few hours ended our anxiety on that point, by the water becoming perfectly fresh, while no diminution had taken place in the size of the river, after passing what I have called Sea Reach. Our progress up the river was necessarily retarded by the obligation

of

1

of making a running survey during our passage. At sunset we had proceeded up the river about twenty miles. The scenery was peculiarly beautiful- the country on the banks alternately hilly and level, but not flooded the soil of the finest description of brush land, on which grew timber of great magnitude, of various' species, some of which were unknown to us. Among others a magnificent species of pine was in great abundance. The timber on the hills was also good; and to the south-east, a little distant from the river, were several brushes or forests of the common Australian cypress-trce (Callitris Australis) of large size. Up to this point the river was navigable for vessels of considerable burthen, if not drawing more than sixteen feet water. The tide rose about five feet, being the same as at the entrance.

The next day the examination of the river was resumed;' and, with increased satisfaction, we proceeded about thirty miles further, no diminution having taken place either in the breadth or the depth of it, except that in one place, to the extent of about thirty yards, a ridge of detached rocks stretched across, having not more than twelve feet at high water. From this point to Termination Hill, the river continued of nearly uniform size; the country being of a very superior description, and equally well adapted for cultivation and for grazing; the timber abundant, and fit for all the purposes of domestic use or exportation, while the pine-trees, if they should prove of good quality, were of a scantling sufficient for the top-masts of large ships. Some were measured upwards of thirty inches in diameter, and from fifty to eighty feet without a branch.

The boat's crew were so exhausted by their constant exertions under a vertical sun, that I was most reluctantly compelled to relinquish my intention of proceeding to the termination of tidewater. At this place the tide rose about four feet six inches, the force of the ebb-tide and current united being little greater than the flood-tide a proof of its flowing through a very level country. Nothing, however, indicated that I should speedily arrive at that termination; and being upwards of seventy miles from the vessel, with not more than another day's provisions (not having expected to make such a discovery), I landed on the south shore for the purpose of examining the surrounding country. On ascending a low hill rising about two hundred and fifty feet above the level of the river, which I called Termination Hill, I obtained a view of its apparent course for thirty or forty miles, and saw a distant mountain (which I conjectured to be the " High Peak" marked on Captain Flinders's chart) bearing S. 13° E., distant from twenty-five to thirty miles. Round from this point to the N. W., the country declined considerably in elevation, and had much the appearance of an extended plain, formed of low undulating hills and vales, well, but not heavily, wooded. The only elevations of magnitude were some hills seven or eight hundred feet high, which we had passed to the northward. The appearance of the country, the slowness of the current even at ebb-tide, and the depth of water, induced me to conclude that the river REV. AUG. 1825. will

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